Exuberant expressions of identity and community are at the heart of a new mixed media exhibition at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery.
On June 3, more than 50 people gathered for the opening of In This Together: Sunshine Coast Pride Exhibition. For the project, the gallery invited 2SLGBTQIA+ artists, emerging artists, makers and creatives of all ages on the Sunshine Coast to submit works in any medium.
“It’s not my first queer art show,” chuckled curator Anna Nobile. Gibsons-based Nobile has previously curated queer-themed shows at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre and Sechelt’s Seaside Centre. The Gibsons Public Art Gallery specifically sought out Nobile’s expertise to select and arrange pieces by more than two dozen artists.
“Some of the works here may not seem to have anything explicitly different [from a non-queer art show], but it’s just in the perspective that they bring,” said Nobile. “It does come out in little ways, and it’s just part of who we are and the issues that queer folk have had to deal with over the years.”
Contributions are displayed from more than two dozen multigenerational artists whose ages span eight decades.
The exhibition includes collaborative work, like a A Gathering Table by Jan X and Marina Crawford: a worn woodgrain frame surrounds warm-hued imagery set against brick and earthen backgrounds. The table is the subject of a silent auction that will raise funds for Rainbow Bridge, a non-profit that brings queer refugees to Canada, and Trans Care BC, an initiative of the Provincial Health Services Authority.
Jan X is also the instigator of an interactive artwork, Hearts of Pride: a year in “the life”, that began at local Pride dances held in 2022. Visitors can pen a personal message on a black matte card and add it to a vortex of knitted hearts. A cauldron sits nearby, explained Jan X, for thoughts, feelings and actions that will later be incinerated.
“It’s about visibility,” said Jan X, “moving our community from ‘hide’ to ‘pride.’” Among the one-line notes are cursive scripts that read “I am you. You are me. We are beautiful!” and “I love who I am and who I am becoming.”
Works by Cindy Riach and Sue Inglas are hung side by side. A kaleidoscopic fleet of West Coast working vessels in Riach’s Close to the Edge is echoed in a fabric piece by Inglas (Close to the Edge Too). The elegant ovoids of Margaret August’s Two Spirit Rising portray peaceful equanimity on a skyward trajectory. A collection of kitchen blenders converted to sculptural lamps by former fibre optic technician (and now acclaimed upcycler) Ché Kehoe suggests that illumination is the sum of well-churned parts.
“The great thing about this show in particular, compared to some of the other ones, is that this is a community-based show,” said Nobile. “We got names we hadn’t heard of before. It’s great that those artists felt like they could come forward. Even though things have changed for the queer community over the years, some people are still a little bit reluctant to be out.”
Images of organic growth (as in Giovanni Spezzacatena-Rabideye’s encaustic painting Womb Under the Earth) and portraits of expectant faces (such as Tina Furesz’s acrylics Kiss and Gaze) augur transformation. Marilyn Marshall’s sunburst whorls in Snails offer a reminder that progress can be slow but beautiful. A short film by Lorelei Pepi (Happy and Gay, complete with jazz age soundtrack) skewers opponents to same-sex marriage with animated hilarity.
“Here we feel a sense of being able to be more free with expression,” added Nobile, “not just artistic expression, but gender expression, and being able to be who we are.”
In This Together: Sunshine Coast Pride Exhibition remains on display at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery until June 29, with artist-led presentations scheduled for June 10, 18 and 24.
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